Ministry of the Environment prosecutors are having a very good month.
A record penalty of $300,000 was imposed on Terratec Environmental Ltd. for three spills of biosolids as a result of truck accidents. In the summer of 2006, on three occasions in three weeks, truck drivers applied the brakes too suddenly, resulting in sewage biosolids slopping onto the road. One spill closed a road for several hours; a second spill caused a driver to skid; and a third required homeowners to evacuate for two days due to odour.
On December 2, 2008, James Sinclair, Thermosets Limited, and Demolition and Recycling Inc. were fined a total of $659,000 plus the 25% victim fine surcharges, for violating the Ontario Water Resources Act. Mr. Sinclair was also sentenced to four months in jail.
Thermosets Limited and Demolition and Recycling Inc. are businesses in the City of Belleville. Mr. Sinclair is their president and sole director.
The two companies bought the former Union Carbide Bakelite manufacturing plant that produced resins and formaldehyde for many years. Manufacturing at this location ceased in 1992, leaving the property severely contaminated with, among other things, PCBs. Sinclair and his companies planned to redevelop the site.
All three defendants were convicted of discharging PCB contaminated sediments and failure to comply with Orders to remediate the site and clean-up the discharged sediment.
Mr. Sinclair was fined a total of $71,000, Thermosets Limited was fined a total of $291,500 and Demolition and Recycling Inc. was fined a total of $296,500. All fines were exclusive of the victim fine surcharges. Mr. Sinclair was also sentenced to four months in jail.